Installing dual boot Windows 8 on Lenovo S10-3t

UPDATE:I installed RTM release and works still fine on S10-3t (other than slightly skewed resolution). It’s still same install process as far as I can tell and you still need to increase resolution to make Metro apps work

I installed Windows 8 Consumer Preview on Lenovo S10-3t and here is list of issues you might encounter and tips how you can improve setting this up. Big benefit of Windows 8 is that you will be able to get smooth zooming and navigation with IE10 and similar performance improvements you get for pdf with the optional reader download.

See here Win 8 video on S10-3t showing IE10, reader and few other apps:

Installation new dual boot OS

First word of caution that OneKey Recovery program doesn’t work anymore when I installed Windows 8! So backing up with this program may not help to restore back to Windows 7. Therefore I decided to reinstall Windows 7 completely from scratch and remove one of the partitions so I can split the main drive in 2 and use new 2nd partition for Windows 8.

Here are steps how to do this and create new clean Win7 install and leave 1 partition for windows 8. Again warning: you will lose all data and OneKey backup won’t work anymore so backup your data on external drive.

Backup any data and programs installations on external drive. Note programs need to be reinstalled. Make sure you write down all program keys (e.g. Windows, Office, …)

Download all necessary Lenovo S10-3t drivers first since Windows doesn’t have built-in driver for S10-3t wireless. Go to Lenovo support site and download at least following drivers on external drive (or use another computer):

Intel Chipset Driver

Intel OnBoard Graphics Driver

Wireless Lan Driver (Intel, …)

Broadcom Ethernet driver

Lenovo Energy Management (to get Fn keys working for screen brightness and audio)

Insert USB drive and reboot. If the USB doesn’t boot automatically go to bios setup (F2) and adjust boot order or use F12 to choose boot menu and then choose USB device

When Windows 7 setup starts choose Drive options (advanced):

Delete the large windows partition and 1 additional partition. I deleted the additional ‘Lenovo’ backup drive partition since I couldn’t use that anyway anymore for backup. Obviously you will lose all data so backup data first!

For the just deleted windows partition choose ‘Extend’ and then choose the 2nd partition you deleted. This will merge the 2

Choose ‘New’ for the merged partition and decide on % size. For instance 50% will leave half for the 2nd partition. Next I would label the volume. For example Win7. Repeat that for the remainder of the partition (choose 100%) for Windows 8

Choose the Win7 partition for installation of Windows 7

When Windows 7 setup restarts make sure you remove USB drive so you won’t end up in an endless loop:-)

After Windows 7 is installed install all missing drivers you downloaded previously (in that order above). Note initially the device manager will show 3 unrecognized devices and you won’t have internet connection. After installing drivers you should see no errors anymore in device manager (power management, LAN and ethernet are the 3). You can install additional drivers and software optionally like screen rotation

Restore any data and programs you want to install. I installed also K-lite Codec pack which will install Media player classic which gives you better performance and lower CPU usage for most video formats. For best battery performance in Media player classic use MPEG2 files and choose as render ‘Overlay Mixer *’. This will bring CPU down around 10% (you may get notification that aero is disabled but you can disable this message in notification settings).

For previous issue consider creating a shortcut key to switch resolutions. You can use autohotkey for instance with change resolution script.

Optionally you can download newer graphics driver driver on Intel site: GMA 3150. Although there’s an aspect ratio setting I didn’t have any luck keeping 16:9 ratio on S10-3t. I believe this setting is for upscaling resolutions only

Note minimum resolution for split screen or snap app feature is 1366×768 so you won’t be able to display apps side by side on S10-3t. Looking forward when Lenovo Yoga will be available with proper 1600×900 resolution.

Install the Lenovo power management driver. Then change in power advanced options: set max CPU to high. Second I’d change closing lid to hibernate and power to shutdown

I would recommend adding some apps from the store. For instance navigation and zooming on the ‘Reader’ is pretty fluid on the S10-3t especially compared to Windows 7 Adobe reader.

You can swipe from sides to open additional menu’s but on S10-3t the display edges are not flush so you may not find it easy to open the menu’s this way. UPDATE: turns out you start the swipe from the edge and then it works fine. Alternative is to use keyboard: use Windows key+Z to open app menu. Also Windows Key+X will open start menu. Or with the mouse move to corners: right side corners will open charm menu, upper left side opens switch app bar (move down to see all). Also right-click will open app menu as well

Another shortcut key: Windows + I will open settings menu. Note that this settings menu is in the app context. So if you opened weather app and open this menu you can change weather app settings (e.g. Fahrenheit or Celsius)

If you already have 2 partitions then if you install Windows 8 on the 2nd partition you don’t have to reinstall Windows 7. If you use final Windows 8 release you don’t need to repair Windows 7 boot either (otherwise for previews insert Windows 7 DVD and choose repair and it will boot again in Windows 7).

If you only have 1 partition then you can only install 1 OS. So in that case you can only upgrade or reinstall after splitting partition.

So far so good until now, but……… I can’t switch the 1024×600 to 1024×768, I mean if I use the win7 installed on C it’s work, but in the win8 with second partition nope, and I don’t understand why, somebody has the same issue?

In Windows 8 the registry key might be different location. Open regedt32.exe and then search for Display1_DownScalingSupported. Find all places and change the value to 1 as described on Jesse B. Andersen site. After you changed the value to 1 reboot or login again. Then it will show up extra resolutions.

Thanks m8, now it’s working perfectly, win8 it’s fluid and quick on this machine (win7 it’s pretty slow), by the way i’m continuing to discover new options and i believe when win8 it’s out i going to bought it (the good question it’s only if s10-3t support totally the new OS).

Lenovo S10-3t? That would be Pro version but note that minimum screen resolution is too low. So officially S10-3t is not supported in Windows 8 but it should work with the workaround shown in this article for now (I have final release which is working at the moment except for few games).

Well, but i believe win8 it’s running better than the win7 (for the smaller lenovo win7 it’s very heavy from my point of view), anyway i will wait oct 26 to download the final version, to remove the dual boot, i just need to delete the D: partition right?

Deleting partition wouldn’t remove the boot entry. To remove that you can use msconfig.exe (also in Windows 8). Start that program and then go to boot tab. There you can choose a boot entry and click delete (haven’t tried that myself yet but should work).

Win8 is bit faster because it consumes lower resources which is nice for S10-3t:-).

To clarify Pro version is more expensive full Windows 8 version. There’s also a cheaper base version I believe (without some security features).

October 23, 2012 at 11:54 am

MiamiGLC

I found msconfig but if i click on windows 8 (D:\windows) : CUrrent OS; Default OS, i can’t click on Delete, and if i click on windows 7 (C:\windows) i can click on delete, ?????? i need to delete the c:\windows????? let me know, thanks again for your help lucien

I don’t know which one you want to remove, but boot in the OS you want to keep. Then start msconfig and make sure the one you want to keep says default. Then you should be able to remove the other OS. Also when you search for ‘how to remove dual boot’ you find some links (i.e. ehow).

October 20, 2012 at 7:24 pm

MiamiGLC

Hi again lucien, finally i have installed windows8, but there’s something strange, i lower the resolution for use the metro apps, but they dont work, i mean i click on it, the icon come to the desk and then in 2 secs return to the apps, there’s something i miss?????

Metro apps only work with minimal resolution of 1024×768. So lowering resolution will not work for those. You need to increase to at least to 1024×768. Also some games do not work on S10-3t like Pinball (but majority works for me). Desktop apps work on any resolution though.

I do have final Win8 release and it works for me. Did you re-install all drivers especially graphics driver? I do have seen that same problem if resolution is too low. Try to change resolution to max.

October 27, 2012 at 8:38 am

MiamiGLC

OK, now they works like before, i found in google several peoples as the same trouble, was Avast antivirus blocking the internet access to the applications, now Lucien, i want remove the Lenovo apps (they slowing the netbook) which one i need to keep and which one i can disinstall?

Great:-). See the list that you need in the guide. Anything not in there you don’t really need (which isn’t much really).
MSconfig.exe is also a great tool to disable anything you don’t need (besides uninstalling).

is there a way to make a shortcut to automatically adjust the resolution. if so I would -like to make 2 shortcuts and pin them to start menu (in metro mode). 1 shortcut with higher resolution would be called metro resolution to allow metro apps…. the other to switch to the standard resolution which is obviously less horizontally squashed and a bit easier on the eyes – probably name it “desktop resolution – shortcut”. if I could do this with just shortcuts which are then pinned to the start buttons in metro it would be great.

Hi again Lucien, it’s several days i have a serious problem, the netbook it’s rebooting by itself, here the error i have :
C:\Windows\Minidump\111112-26020-01.dmp
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-80621-0.sysdata.xml
C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP

Not sure. Typically that is caused by hardware or also anti-virus program (causing hardware incompatibility issues). Have you tried disabled AV program and disconnecting any devices? Also you might reset or update bios.

But best to check contents of that xml file. That will give you location where it crashed.

Lucien, my hard drive failed and I bought a new drive and a builder’s Win8. I cannot get the touch screen to work in Win8. I tried downloading the Microsoft Surface Touch driver, but I get an error that my screen doesn’t support two simultaneous points and will not install.
Thanks for your help, as this blog has helped me a lot!

Hi,
I have installed windows 8 pro on my Ideapad S10-3t, its working fine except for the webcam.
Do you have your webcam working?
I tried all the win-7 camera drivers and even some win-8 drivers with no luck.
I can’t even see the camera listed under device manager.

If I remember correctly I thought I did see it working but not 100% sure. I don’t have the S10-3t anymore so can’t check unfortunately.
The device manager lists all devices but it may show up as unrecognized if it’s missing a driver.

I can help you, it’s happened to me also, use Fn key and Esc key (it’s used for desconnect/reconnect the webcam) , then you can see your webcam on the list and working again, ops i’m almost forgot to do that with NO power cord connected to the netbook (i don’t know why the netbook with the power cord connected doesn’t show the webcam, it’s weird).
Let me know if it’s working for you also!!!